I was just about finished with a larger mixed media painting, when I changed the direction it was going and it turned into a big hot mess. Tonight I'm planning on gessoing over most of it and redoing it.

Ok, so you're probably thinking, these art journal pages look pretty messy, so what's the problem? Well, I have higher expectations for myself when it is on canvas and might be hanging on my wall someday.

Wednesday is Day Two of Daisy Yellow's Creativity Queue Challenge.
Here, I altered some of my artwork in photo editors, added some text and printed them out on sticker paper. I got the nudge to recycle some of my artwork through Journaling Deep, a weekly newsletter from Samantha Kira. Then, I cut up the stickers and used them as pieces in my art journal.

Seth Apter put out a call for artwork sized 5"x5" responding to one of three questions. I have been wanting to make something for this, so this weekend I went ahead and made a collage. I used to send off mail art all the time, so I thought it would be fun to revisit this activity.

The question I answered was: "If your artwork could talk, what would it say?"

The Liebster Award takes it's name from the German word
meaning Beloved, Dearest or Favorite.
It is given to bloggers who have a small following - under 200 followers.
As part of the tradition it is passed along to 5 bloggers that have
motivated and inspired.
To accept the award you must:
1. Link back to the person who gave it to you and thank them
2. Post the award to your blog
3. Give the award to 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers
that you appreciate and value.
4. Leave a comment on the 5 blogs to let them know that they have been offered this award.

There are so many great blogs out there. Here are just a few that I am loving now!

Here are a few recent sketch pages. The top one and bottom one were started with a layer of inktense block colors mixed with water and gesso. I laid down washes of color. After dried, I sketched on top with some brush pens. The middle one was on white paper, with brush pens and some Pan Pastel coloring. There wasn't a peach color in the 20 color set I got. Can you believe that? Anyways. I also cut out some homemade stickers that I made to add to the page. In a later post, I will show you more of the stickers.

I was pleased to discover that one of my mini-collages was published in the Cloth Paper Scissors Art Journaling Exposed EMagazine. It is an interactive downloadable magazine with videos and slideshows. My mini-collage was part of the Sketchbook Challenge reader challenge.

I love to read. Of course I do, I'm a teacher.
Here are some of the books I'm loving now!

I can't say enough good things about Lynda Barry's collages and drawings. They are just so fun and chock- full of inspiration. She came to Madison recently to do some artist-in-residency programming and I am kicking myself now that I did not get tickets to her lecture. Apparently, she brought Matt Groening with her to speak!!! He is the creator of the Simpsons.

When Wanderers Cease to Roam is a delightful book full of lovely, airy watercolor sketches and drawings.

Street Sketchbook Journeys is fantastic if you are into edgy, urban, graffiti art. I could see photocopying some of the pages for use with older kids at school. I wouldn't leave the book out for full perusal, but bits and pieces would be inspiring.

Next up, is The Pulse by Seth Apter. Seth is a really great guy who has participated in many mixed media collaborative projects and has a very active blog. Seth is also a psychiatrist, which is a fascinating combination of careers. I think art and psychology go hand-in-hand. One of his projects is going to be in the Featuring Magazine which I am working on.

Seth had a call for artists and had a list of questions to answer and prompts to create artwork for. There is a wide array of answers to the questions in the book. One of my quotes is in the book and my blog is listed in the back, which is pretty cool. I'm not going to lie, I'm bummed my artwork wasn't selected, but I suppose there was only so much room in the book... keep trying, right? Anyways, the book turned out lovely and it was fun to see everyone's responses to the questions.

And finally, another book I am loving now is Jesus for President. There are photographs and art scattered throughout the book which makes for a meaningful and interesting read. If you are a Christian (or want to learn more about who Jesus was) and interested in how politics fits in with his teachings, this is a very interesting book. How do we live in the modern times when war is ever-present? What about social justice issues? The first half of the book is about the history of Jesus and the church and the second half of the book leads into the present day. I'm not through with it yet, but I'm reading it slowly, savoring and trying to understand each chapter.

Earlier this week, I toured a medical software company with some 7th graders at our school. The hallways are decorated very artistically and contain many works of sculpture and paintings. For part one of my visit to EPIC, go here!

I LOVED this one!

A unique sculpture made of computer parts. Kind of reminds me of Louise Nevelson.

This is a mixed media painting called Cabinet of Curiosities #3. A series of paintings in this grid-like style is emerging. I used a lot of acrylic paints, gel sticks, pan pastels, my own watercolor illustrations and random ephemera. I am linking this to Paint Party Friday.

This week, I went on a field trip with some 7th graders at our school. We toured the EPIC company which makes medical software for hospitals and clinics. The company has three different locations in the Madison, WI area. The campus we visited had about 13 different buildings. Each building has a decorative theme. There was TONS of artwork from local artists around the buildings. It was amazing! There was so much to take pictures of, that I only took pictures of my favorites. I will tell you about the tour in two blog posts.

Here's me next to a Dr. Suess style sculpture.

This was a sculpture attached to a picture frame. The guy is super realistic looking and it kind of creeped me out when I looked at it up close.

Here's part of the outside courtyard. The 13 buildings are connected by indoor walkways.